‘American Gangster’ Takes Out the Competition

American Gangster decisively topped the weekend’s box office, pulling in $46.3 million and setting a new record for the highest opening for an R-rated crime drama ever. Also, possibly even more impressively, it defeated Bee Movie in a season when moviegoers are so hungry for family films that The Game Plan can actually be a hit. We here at New York couldn’t be prouder, as the movie is based on a 2000 profile of Frank Lucas by Mark Jacobson that ran in our very magazine.

On our Website, AG fever has inspired legions of readers to share their thoughts on the original piece. Comments range from thoughtful and intelligent to the hilariously ignorant to the ignorantly hilarious (“This would make an amazing movie,” enthuses one excited commenter.). Opinions are similarly heated on Jacobson’s recent double interview with Lucas and former heroin dealer Nicky Barnes, and more than 70 people have stopped by to weigh in on drug legalization or to debate the pros and cons of snitching. Expect the discussion to get even more interesting when American Gangster inevitably carries home the trophy for best picture in February (or loses, in a shocking upset, to Superbad).

‘American Gangster’ blasts box office [Variety]
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